SHAH ALAM, Jan 19 (Bernama) -- Selangor State Assembly Speaker Datuk Teng Chang Khim today declared the Port Klang state seat vacant, saying assemblyman Badrul Hisham Abdullah had failed to attend sittings for six months without a valid reason.
He said the seat fell vacant effective Jan 16.
Badrul Hisham, who had won the seat on a Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) ticket in the general election in 2008, quit the party on 29 October 2009.
At a press conference at his office here, Teng explained that there were three sittings of the state assembly last year, from April 12 to 14, July 12 to 15 and Nov 8 to 15.
He said Badrul Hisham was present on all three days of the April sitting and absent for two days (July 13 and 14) of the July sitting and on all the six days of the November sitting.
Teng said Badrul Hisham produced a medical certificate for his absence on the two days of the July sitting and "admitted that he was absent from the whole (November) meeting via his letter dated November 2010 which reached my office on Dec 10, 2010".
He said Badrul Hisham, in his letter, sought leave for his absence, stating that he sought traditional treatment in Pahang during the period of the November sitting.
Teng said he replied the letter on Dec 21, 2010, informing Badrul Hisham that the reason for his absence was unacceptable based on two grounds - firstly, he did not apply for leave before or during the sitting and, secondly, he did not give a concrete reason for his late application to be acceptable.
"Hence, I concluded that his absence at the November sitting was without leave. To my decision, Badrul Hisham replied in his letter dated Jan 5, 2011 seeking forgiveness, but no other reason was given.
"Article 69 of the Laws of the Constitution of Selangor 1959 states that if a member of the legislative assembly is, without the leave of the Speaker, absent from every sitting thereof for a period of six months, his seat shall be declared vacant by the Speaker.
"Therefore, I had to decide if YB Badrul Hisham's absence at the sitting fell within Article 69 of the State Constitution and, thereby, whether the seat falls vacant," he said.
"The issue I had to decide was whether by the provision of Article 69, Badrul Hisham has been absent from every sitting of the Legislative Assembly for a period of six months. In short, when did the six months begin to run, from July 16 or Nov 8, 2010?" he said.
Teng said his research showed that there was no reported precedence on this issue either in parliament or any of the state legislative assemblies in Malaysia.
He said reference to the "Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice" did not help as the matter before him was one of interpretation of the constitutional provision and not of parliamentary practice.
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